Dreams and Days: Poems Part 14

The children of the citadel conquered all Their conquerors, smiting them with the pure light That shone in that strong city fortified.

THREE DOVES

Seaward, at morn, my doves flew free; At eve they circled back to me.

The first was Faith; the second, Hope; The third--the whitest--Charity.

Above the plunging surge's play Dream-like they hovered, day by day.

At last they turned, and bore to me Green signs of peace thro' nightfall gray.

No sh.o.r.e forlorn, no loveliest land Their gentle eyes had left unscanned, 'Mid hues of twilight-heliotrope Or daybreak fires by heaven-breath fanned.

Quick visions of celestial grace,-- Hither they waft, from earth's broad s.p.a.ce, Kind thoughts for all humanity.

They s.h.i.+ne with radiance from G.o.d's face.

Ah, since my heart they choose for home, Why loose them,--forth again to roam?

Yet look: they rise! with loftier scope They wheel in flight toward heaven's pure dome.

Fly, messengers that find no rest Save in such toil as makes man blest!

Your home is G.o.d's immensity: We hold you but at his behest.

V

ARISE, AMERICAN!

The soul of a nation awaking,-- High visions of daybreak,--I saw; A people renewed; the forsaking Of sin, and the wors.h.i.+p of law.

Sing, pine-tree; shout, to the hoa.r.s.er Response of the jubilant sea!

Rush, river, foam-flecked like a courser; Warn all who are honest and free!

Our birth-star beckons to trial The faith of the far-fled years, Ere scorn was our share, and denial, Or laughter for patriots' tears.

And Faith shall come forth the finer, From trampled thickets of fire, And the orient open diviner Before her, the heaven rise higher.

O deep, sweet eyes, but severer Than steel! See you yet, where he comes-- Our hero? Bend your glance nearer; Speak, Faith! For, as wakening drums,

Your voice shall set his blood stirring; His heart shall grow strong like the main When the rowelled winds are spurring, And the broad tides landward strain.

O hero, art thou among us?

O helper, hidest thou, still?

Why hast thou no anthem sung us, Why workest thou not our will?

For a smirk of the face, or a favor, Still shelters the cheat where he crawls; And the truth we began with needs braver Upholders, and loftier walls.

Too long has the land's soul slumbered In wearying dreams of gain, With prosperous falsity c.u.mbered And dulled with bribes, as a bane.

Yes, cunning is civilized evil, And crafty the gold-baited snare; But virtue, in fiery upheaval, May cast fine device to the air.

Bring us the simple and stalwart Purpose of earlier days.

Come! Far better than all were't-- Our precepts, our pride, and our lays--

That the people in spirit should tremble With heed of the G.o.d-given Word; That we cease from our boast, nor dissemble, But follow where truth's voice is heard.

Come to us, mountain-dweller, Leader, wherever thou art; Skilled from thy cradle, a queller Of serpents, and sound to the heart!

Modest and mighty and tender; Man of an iron mold; Honest, fine-grained, our defender;-- American-souled!

THE NAME OF WAs.h.i.+NGTON

[Read before the Sons of the Revolution, New-York, February 22, 1887]

Sons of the youth and the truth of the nation, Ye that are met to remember the man Whose valor gave birth to a people's salvation, Honor him now; set his name in the van.

A n.o.bleness to try for, A name to live and die for-- The name of Was.h.i.+ngton.

Calmly his face shall look down through the ages-- Sweet yet severe with a spirit of warning; Charged with the wisdom of saints and of sages; Quick with the light of a life-giving morning.

A majesty to try for, A name to live and die for-- The name of Was.h.i.+ngton!

Though faction may rack us, or party divide us, And bitterness break the gold links of our story, Our father and leader is ever beside us.

Live, and forgive! But forget not the glory Of him whose height we try for, A name to live and die for-- The name of Was.h.i.+ngton!

Still in his eyes shall be mirrored our fleeting Days, with the image of days long ended; Still shall those eyes give, immortally, greeting Unto the souls from his spirit descended.

His grandeur we will try for, His name we 'll live and die for-- The name of Was.h.i.+ngton!